Rhode Island Humanities seeks an Engagement Facilitator for a three-month contract to assist with the National Humanities Conference (NHC) which will take place in Providence, RI, November 13 – 17, 2024. The NHC Engagement Facilitator will coordinate opportunities for community engagement with NHC, execute logistics for tours, and recruit and coordinate volunteers.
This contract is funded by a grant from the Rhode Island Foundation to increase engagement between the NHC audience and the local community. Find a PDF of this opportunity here.
To Apply:
Please send resume to scott@rihumanities.org by 5:00pm Friday, August 23, 2024 with the subject “NHC Engagement Facilitator Application.” Please also provide a brief paragraph describing your interest and relevant experience in the body of the email.
NHC Engagement Facilitator Deliverables:
In collaboration with the Associate Director of Engagement, the NHC Engagement Facilitator’s specific responsibilities include:
- Coordinate logistics related to conference tours and community engagement opportunities;
- Regularly communicate with NHC Tour partners leading up to and during the conference about logistics;
- Create and distribute social media content and other print/digital promotional materials to advertise NHC events and opportunities that are free and open to the public via existing platforms;
- Design, recruit, and facilitate a volunteer program for the Conference that engages local community members with the NHC in rewarding ways and that helps conference attendees feel welcomed and supported;
- Develop, facilitate, and compile conference evaluation material for reporting on local engagement with the conference;
- Staff the National Humanities Conference November 13 – 17, 2024;
- Communicate with RI Humanities staff and project partners as needed, including weekly check-in meetings.
Experience and Qualifications:
The ideal candidate will have excellent communication skills and event planning and/or project management experience. Additionally, the candidate will have strong interpersonal skills; ability to skillfully manage multiple projects/timelines; facility with technology used during in-person and virtual events (microphones, Zoom, etc.); and a holistic understanding of issues of equity in community engagement efforts. Experience in public humanities, cultural work, and/or community organizing is helpful. A passion for civic engagement and community-based work is appreciated.
Schedule and Compensation:
The Consultancy will start the week of September 2, 2024 and conclude November 30, 2024. Weekly hours will vary according to the workflow of the project, with an average of 10 hours per week. A comfort level with hybrid work (remote and in-person) is necessary as the National Humanities Conference will be in-person. In-person activities will adhere to RI Humanities’ COVID-19 guidelines for events and gatherings based on the level of community transmission, informed by the Center for Disease Control and the Rhode Island Department Of Health. The facilitator fee is $5,250, with additional reimbursement for costs of travel to attend associated events. A valid driver’s license and access to a reliable vehicle is required.
About Rhode Island Humanities:
Rhode Island Humanities seeds, supports, and strengthens public history, cultural heritage, civic education, and community engagement by and for all Rhode Islanders. For 50 years, RI Humanities has cultivated diverse expressions of the public humanities through vital and innovative public programs, research, and media projects that have reached millions of people in Rhode Island and beyond. RI Humanities is a catalyst for engagement with our state’s remarkable history and culture, and believes in the power of the humanities community to inspire and improve Rhode Island. RI Humanities was founded in 1973 as an independent state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. A private nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, the organization is supported by federal and private funds.
Rhode Island Humanities is committed to workplace diversity and seeks candidates who represent the diversity of the state, including but not limited to age, national origin, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, gender, disability, cultural background, and socioeconomic class.
About the National Humanities Conference:
This national conference is organized annually by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the National Humanities Alliance, and draws hundreds of attendees from across the country. In November 2024, the NHC will be in Providence, RI, providing a unique opportunity to highlight the state’s dynamic public humanities ecosystem. With NHC 2024 taking place in the Ocean State, the connection between water and human communities, behavior, and decisions over millennia inspires the conference’s theme of Making Waves, Navigating Currents of Change.
The conference will include topical sessions highlighting connections across humanities and other disciplines and practices that incorporate the theme of water, making waves through public humanities, and navigating currents of change.
There will also be a series of off-site sessions and tours which will take place outside of the conference hotel and will introduce participants to an aspect of the Providence or Rhode Island humanities landscape or to a type of humanities program that is best understood beyond the hotel and convention center walls.
